Composition containing iso-olefin polymers



Patented Nov. 24, 1942 zsoaoss 1 COMPOSITIONCONTAINING l so omrn'v roLmas; 1r

William J. Sparks,

Thomas, Union, N. 1.,

sig'nments, to Jasco, tionoi' Louisiana .CranIord, and Robert M. assignors, by'mesne as- Incorporated, a corpora No Drawing. Application July so, 1938,"

1 Serial No. 222,146

3 Claims. (01. 260-36) The present invention relates to improved methods for workinghydrocarbon polymers and polymer compositions whichare especially desir'ableffor working either by calendering, milling, extrusion or other mechanical means.

Hydrocarbon polymers have beenmade by subjecting olefins, especially iso oleflns such as isobutylene and iso amylene while in liquid phase to the action of catalysts of the Friedel Crafts type, while at low temperatures. The preferred were found to be unsuccessful because, while catalyst isboronfluoride but aluminum chloride, they give the additional fluidity, theyido' this v,atf especially dissolved in alkyl halides such" as ethyl the sacrifice of surface hardness. Materials of chloride, zinc chloride,.,titanium fluoride, and the ,two types, that is to say mechanical fillers others of the same class may beemployed, The and organicblendingagents, have been. used to,- temperature during reaction, which is ordinarily gether, but the amounts employed mustbe large} quite rapid, must be below 10 C., andmuch to obtain-the properties required for treatment lower temperatures are ordinarily employed, for such as milling or extrusion, and many of. the example, 40 0., 60f C.,- or even-100 C. valuable'properties of the original olefin polymers,-

The product varies in its properties depending on arelost or aregreatly "diminished due to the 1: the conditions of operation, the particular olelargeamouii sofin ma i l adde iin used and the purity thereof, and ranges from It h'asqnow been found that certain materials a a gummy oil having a molecularweightirom 500 can be used for this purpose, however, and the to 15,000'or 20,000 through a gummyand tacky best of thesematerials are solid, crystalline, arcsolid having a molecular weight between about matichydrocarbons such as naphthalene, phe- 25,000 and 75,000 or 80,000 up to elastic -rubbernanthrene'or anthracene'; in short, the condensed like products of 100,000 to 250,000. The molecuring aromatic hydrocarbonafThse materials areb lar weights given above are, of course, .approxisoluble in the polymersflwhen hot,,that'is to say mate and are measured bythe Staudinger Visabove thenielting. point, oith'e particular in* cosity Method. The polymers are substantially radi nts. and in t s c ndit ns at y increase saturated and have very low iodine numbers, the fluidity or the product. 501; the other hand, 1 usually below 10. s .at lowerltemperatures the's'addition agents be- In working :up these materials, particularly the come solid and acting as solid fillers decrease gummy, solid materials, there is considerable tackiness or thepolymer. Most of these mates-I difliculty encountered because the polymers do F rials give the appearance of complete solubility not gain fluidity at elevated temperatures sufl'ieven at low temperatures and films made of the c'iently to assist the mechanical operations and ness and become extremely tacky and difflcult to handle. For these reasons, the polymer has not been readily susceptible tomechanical processes at the same time because they lack surface hardsuchas" extrusion, calendering, milling and other mechanical operations of this type which are ordinarily used to form materials. of this type into rods, sheets or other forms.

Attempts have been made to remedy the above difllculties by the addition of compounding agents, and many have been found which are compatible with the particular olefin polymers,

but-none has been entirely successful in solving the particular problem at hand. Mechanical fillers, such as inorganic oxides, carbonates, chalk, carbon black and the like, can be used to reduce tackiness, but these materials at the same time greatly reduce the flow oi the material. which. is

' merized ring compound, for example 6,10, 14 or;

the like, and m is an integer greater than 1.'

which is also closely cially athigh temperatures and such mixtures are difficult to handleby the'meth'ods mentioned above;

free compounding agents, such as paraffin wax,

lubricatingoilaor stearic acid and similar acids, 1 esters, gums and th'elike which havebeen used 1 two ingredients are transparent even in the cold,

but it is believed that the materials are not en-' tirely'soluble since when" the films are stretched,

they become turbid. or translucent, indicating are not completely in naphthyl, and the like. These materials. have the general formula ,(CnHn) m, where n indicates the number of carbon atoms inv the unpoly- A third class of materials related to those mentioned before are the polymers of aromatic hydrocarbons. These mate'- rials while similar to the condensation products are different because they have thesame, ultiordinarily too low for practical purposes, espemate composition as the aromatic materials from the other hand, organic. blending. agents are frequently totally insoluble, especially those containingoxygen in any substantial pro-, portion, and the more readily available. oxygen but probably in the form of very small which they are produced and difler from the condensation products which latter contain less hydrogen than the aromatics from which they are derived. As particular examples of the materials of this class may be mentioned dihydro diphenyl (CsHs)z or dihydro dinaphthalene (CioH1o)2. More generally the formula may be expressed as (CnHn)m in which, as before, then represents the number of carbon atoms in the initial compound, 6, or 14 or the like, and the m is an integer greater than 1. The materials of the latter class not only include strictly 'the polymers such as mentioned before, but should also include products such as phenyl-naphthyl compounds, phenyl anthryl or naphthyl anthryl compounds.

Various alkylated materials of the three classes mentioned above may be used, but it should be recalled that the alkylation ordinarily reduces the melting point of the materials and those satisfactory for the present purposes should be those which are crystalline and which are solid at ordinary temperatures. It the material itself is to be used at a more elevated temperature, it is preferable to use a material which will be solid above the temperature of use; in other words, to choose a suitable hydrocarbon compound of the classes described above with a melting point above the temperature at which it is to be employed.

Various other materials may be used in place of the aromatic hydrocarbons, for example, hydrogenated Montan kax or other solid high melting esters such as carnauba wax or candelilla wax and the like. Diphenyl oxide can be employed, as well as the solid hydrogenated aromatics and the more highly chlorinated naphthalenes and solid chlorinated aliphatic compounds such as hexachlorethane.

In carrying out the present invention, the various modifying agents are chosen with regard to service to which the composition is to be put, and a modifying agent is dissolved in the olefin polymer either directly by heating or by addition in a suitable solvent such as benzol, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulphide or the like. The materials maybe kneaded together, milled or otherwise admixed. The amount of the m'odiiying agent naturally varies considerably depending on its specific quality and the degree of modification desired. In many cases as little as 5 or 10% of particular products, such as naphthalene or diphenyl may be used, but more may be employed for example up to 30 or even or more, but in such instances it will be understood that the fundamental nature of the olefin polymers is considerably changed. When using smaller amounts, however, the olefin polymers serve for the some purposes as unblended materials, but they have the advantage that they can be worked by milling, extrusion and the like more readily than the unblended materials.

The nature of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following example:

Example One hundred g. of an isobutylene polymer hav ing a molecular weight by the Staudinger method the sheeted materials from the press and allow-' ing them to cool the uncompounded sample curled very badly and could not be smoothed in to a permanent plot sheet. The treated sample remained flat, could-be rolled or folded but readily resumed its original flat form.

We claim:

1. Composition of matter consisting of a gummy, iso-olefin polymer of a molecular weight of 25,000 to 150,000 and 5 to 10% oi naphthalene incorporated therewith.

2. Composition of matter comprising a gummy, iso-olefln polymer of a. molecular weight of 25,000 to 150,000 and 5 to 10% of diphenyl incorporated therewith.

3. Composition of matter consisting of a gummy iso-olefln polymer having a molecular weight of from 25,000 to 150,000 and from 5 to 10% of a crystalline condensed nuclear aromatic hydrocarbon.

WILLIAM J. SPARKS. ROBERT M. THOMAS. 

